


Healer Who?

by Miz636



Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 14:09:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2272686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miz636/pseuds/Miz636
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dumbledore has been forced to leave Hogwarts, Dolores Umbridge is now in charge, and... a blue box has just crashed into the grounds of Hogwarts?</p>
<p>Takes place during the two months the Doctor is looking for Melody Pond. For the 2011-4 SIYE Challenge. Won Best Overall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Healer Who?

**Author's Note:**

> Well, as the summary said, this was written for a challenge on SIYE in 2011, where it won Best Overall. I also posted it to FanFiction.net at the time, so if you've seen it on either site, I'm the same author.
> 
> I personally say that this isn't AU because, until The Wedding of River Song, when we learn the Doctor is much older and has been traveling alone again, we don't hear his age once Let's Kill Hitler begins, so it's quite possible he spent years searching for Melody Pond while only two months passed for the Ponds.
> 
> In any case, I have ideas to continue this at some point in the future, but it's currently complete for an unknown length of time (considering I have way too many ideas to write still and no time to continue this when it's fine as it is).
> 
> I hope you enjoy it. :)
> 
> *With thanks to my Beta Arnel and my parents, the former for editing and the latter for helping me with the plot and telling me what they thought of this.

A blue police public call box from 1950s London spun through the air, smoke escaping through the broken windows on each side. Though the box was small when seen from outside, inside it was so large that not even its owner could say how large it was. Said owner was currently hanging on for dear life to the central, circular console while also trying to poke, flip, and move buttons and switches and other objects on the console, screaming in both excitement and fear.

This blue box was a TARDIS, which stood for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It was a time machine and a spaceship.

The man was known as the Doctor. He was a Time Lord, the final one in existence after the Last Great Time War, where the other Time Lords were trapped in a time-lock and died along with most of the Daleks, a hostile alien race. When the Doctor died, he could regenerate and become a new man with a new body. As of now, he was on his eleventh body.

Tweed jacket open and falling off his shoulders, blue striped shirt pulled out of his trousers, the red braces completely off his shoulders, and bowtie untying, the Doctor was struggling to keep himself upright while the TARDIS spun and bucked and began its descent into what he knew would be another hard crash landing, like the one that had brought him to the incredible Amelia Pond and, later, her husband Rory Williams.

As the TARDIS flew through the air, it paused for a moment, almost as if posing for something that was scanning it before deciding to allow it through. Finally, the blue box landed, a touchdown as hard and shocking as he had feared. Thrown to the ground, the Doctor coughed as the console room filled with a gas leaking from somewhere in the damaged machine.

Slowly getting to his feet, the Doctor straightened out his clothes, checked his pockets to be sure that everything he had stored in them was still there and in one piece, especially his sonic screwdriver, and then he looked around his beloved TARDIS. She was obviously trying to fix herself, but it would take time.

"You take care of yourself, Sexy, and I'll make sure you have the time to heal," he whispered while lovingly rubbing the console. "I believe it's time to find out where I've landed."

Without bothering to check the screen that would have given him the information, the Doctor walked to the doors to the TARDIS, opened them, and exited the blue box, relieved that she had just burrowed into the ground rather than landing on her side as she had the last time they had crashed.

…

Harry James Potter, fifteen-year-old wizard, Boy-Who-Lived, was angry, frightened, and worried. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had been forced to flee Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the night before, and now Professor Dolores Umbridge, a spy for the Ministry of Magic, was Headmistress. She had already been bad enough before, torturing those in detention by forcing them to write with their own blood, carving words into the backs of their hands, but now she had even more power than before. Who knew what she would do with it?

It didn't help Harry that it was his fault that the Headmaster had been forced to run. If Harry hadn't allowed his friend Hermione Granger to convince him to teach other students Defense Against the Dark Arts and to call the group "Dumbledore's Army," then there would have been no reason for Professor Dumbledore to leave the castle.

Upset by the turn of events, Harry had escaped from Hermione and his other best mate, Ron Weasley, leaving the castle to walk around the grounds. He had already walked around the lake once, deep in thought, before deciding to visit his half-giant friend Hagrid. Hagrid was devoted to Professor Dumbledore, so he was most likely devastated by the turn of events.

Just as Harry reached Hagrid's hut near the Forbidden Forest, however, he heard an odd noise. It sounded like wheezing, and it was almost as if the source was in pain, and he turned to look in the direction of the school's wards to see a blue box spinning through the air towards him. Shocked by the sight, he ran to get out of its way, watching in horror as the box crashed upright into the ground near the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid's hut, sending dirt and grass flying in all directions.

Still in shock, Harry stood there, waiting for something to happen. Finally the doors of the box – which was labeled Police Public Call Box – opened. A man wearing a tweed jacket, a blue striped shirt, red braces, black trousers, and a blue bowtie stepped out, his black boots kicking up dirt. His brown hair was flipped over to the right, dark green eyes looking around at his surroundings.

When those dark green eyes met Harry's emerald green ones, Harry felt impelled to approach the man, his hand grasping his wand inside his robe pocket, just in case.

"Why, hello!" the man called, a large grin emerging on his face. "Could you, by chance, tell me where I am? And those are some wonderful robes you're wearing, by the way. Interesting choice of clothes, if I may say so."

"Uh…" Harry began, shocked by the sudden chance in topic. "This is Scotland, sir. I can't tell you where exactly, but you're in Scotland."

"Ah, wonderful! Scotland!" the man sighed wistfully. "What year is it?"

"1996, sir," Harry replied, utterly perplexed that the man had no idea of the date. "It's April, 1996."

"Hm… bit earlier than I've been to lately, but that's fine," the man muttered, obviously talking to himself, but Harry noted that he never lost his smile. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm the Doctor," the man suddenly told Harry, walking towards him with a hand outstretched to shake his own.

"Harry, sir, Harry Potter," Harry felt he had to reply, shaking the man's hand. Looking at the man's face, he caught a flash of surprise before it was gone, replaced by that same smile as before. "Are you Muggle-born, then? Most people don't know about doctors here."

"I guess you could call me that, Harry – I can call you Harry, right?" the Doctor began. "How about you just call me 'the Healer' from now on? No need to confuse your friends and those here with a Muggle term, eh? Yes, just call me 'the Healer'. Hm… Never gone by another way to say Doctor before, but I'll adjust! Anyway! My ship crash-landed, unfortunately," he gestured to the blue box, "so I'm going to have to stick around here for at least a few hours while she fixes herself."

"Your… ship, sir?" Harry asked cautiously, confused by the man's ramblings. However, Harry understood that he was to think of the man as Healer rather than Doctor so as not to confuse Harry's magical friends. Harry could live with that.

"My TARDIS," the Healer replied cheerfully. "She's a spaceship that's also a time machine. Really a wonderful ship."

Though Harry found the Healer confusing, he did know what a spaceship was. He remembered learning about how the Americans had actually gotten to the moon in their rockets about thirty years earlier. As for a time machine, he couldn't really deny time travel after the adventure at the end of his third year with Hermione's Time-Turner, which had allowed them to go back in time by three hours to rescue his godfather, Sirius Black.

Then another thought came to Harry's mind.

"Sir, if you say you crashed here, why were you trying to land in the first place?" Harry asked. The Healer's face darkened as he remembered what had happened.

"Well, Harry, I was looking for the daughter of some friends of mine," the Healer sighed, "and I still can't seem to find her. However, as I was looking, some very old enemies of mine found me and attacked. It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking for me right now, in fact."

…

Outside the wards surrounding Hogwarts, five metal beings, each a different color, were trying to figure out why they couldn't follow the Healer any further.

"Scan is complete," the yellow machine reported to the others. "There is an unknown protection at this location. Scans indicate we will be unable to pass."

"We must find another way to get to the Doctor," the white machine declared. "He must be exterminated."

"Sensors indicate someone is coming," the orange machine suddenly reported, turning so that its eyestalk faced the direction of the intruder.

"Show yourself!" the red machine ordered.

"Otherwise, you will be  _exterminated_ ," the blue machine added, its gunstick moving to face the intruder, the machine unafraid to kill without hesitation.

"You speak of invading this castle to kill someone," a voice hissed, sounding almost like a snake, and a man resembling a cross between a white skeleton and a snake walked out of the shadows of the trees. "I am Lord Voldemort, and I believe we may be able to come to an agreement that would benefit both of us."

…

The Doctor (Perhaps he should think of himself as the Healer to get used to the idea?) looked over the young man before him, everything clicking into place after finding out who he was. Harry Potter, famous wizard whose adventures were chronicled in the seven books by the fabulous J.K. Rowling. The Doctor (He was still working on it…) even remembered teasing Ms. Martha Jones about the books when they had met Shakespeare, and now here he was, in the presence of the young wizard who he had never thought could exist.

The boy was wearing robes with the Gryffindor crest and tie, and holding what was most likely his wand in his pocket, and he looked exactly as the books described him. Looking over the boy, the Doctor (Changing how he referred to himself wasn't easy…) couldn't help but wonder how the famous author had got the story so right.

Still, young Harry had made the Doctor-Healer (He was getting there…) remember why he had crashed in the first place. He had spent a long period of time searching Earth and even other planets and galaxies for one Melody Pond, also known sometime in her future as River Song. He couldn't –  _wouldn't_ – let his friends, the Ponds, down by failing to find their daughter.

However, not even the Docto-Healer (Getting there…) could have predicted running into his most hated enemies in the universe: The Daleks.

The Daleks had attacked him and his TARDIS, hurting her badly enough that she had crashed. Damaged to that extent, she would take at least twelve hours to heal herself, if only because Dalek weapons had been built to do maximum damage to Time Lords and the TARDIS. Until she had fully healed, the Doct-Healer had to protect her, keep himself from dying, and (he hoped) get rid of the Daleks yet again.

"What enemy?" Harry asked him. Looking the young wizard over, the Doct-Healer realized that, given that he seemed about fifteen, by now Voldemort had returned and Cedric Diggory had been murdered. This boy, who looked so young and innocent, had been through more than most men or women went through in a lifetime. Though he was young chronologically, Harry Potter was anything but a child, and the Doct-Healer would treat him accordingly.

"My enemy is a race known as the Daleks," the Doc-Healer began. "They're aliens from another galaxy who have had their emotions programed out of them. Daleks are killing machines who will stop at nothing to kill anyone who gets in their way or prevents them from creating a universe with only Daleks in existence. They will most likely come here, looking for me, and they'll kill anyone whom they find here."

Harry paled at the thought, and the Doc-Healer waited to see what the teenager would say.

"Come here?" Harry whispered. "Kill the students?" Harry's head flashed as his eyes met the Doctor's. "Do you know where you are, now? What this place is?" Harry demanded.

"I'm at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry," the Do-Healer answered quickly and easily. "Founded at least a millennium ago by four people – Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor – who wished to create a school for the magical. The current Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore, the only one whom Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, fears – which means that Dumbledore is needed now more than ever, given that Voldemort has returned, correct?"

"You – you believe me?" Harry asked in disbelief, and the Do-Healer now knew for a fact that it was still Harry's fifth year.

"Of course," the Dealer (Whoops, my mistake!) replied, trying to sound a bit insulted. "The hints are obvious for those who are able and willing to find them." Harry smiled, but then a thought passed through his mind, causing his face to darken significantly.

"We're in trouble if those Daleks of yours attack," Harry declared. "Professor Dumbledore was forced to flee Hogwarts last night by the Minister of Magic and Professor Umbridge. With Dumbledore gone and Umbridge in charge, we'll never be able to fight them."

"That is a problem," the D-Healer (So close, now!) muttered; his brows furrowed as he thought of possible plans to counter whatever were the most likely ways for the Daleks to attack. This little detail also helped the D-Healer figure out when exactly he was.

"Sir, would the Daleks work with Voldemort at all?" Harry questioned slowly, and the Healer (Yes! He had done it!) had to stop himself from showing his shock at the prospect.

The Daleks would never ally themselves with anyone, he thought, unless… Well, unless they were offered something that they could never refuse. Getting them through the protections surrounding Hogwarts so they could get to the Healer wouldn't be enough, though it would help, so what could Lord Voldemort offer them that would get them to ally with him?

…

"You will return Dalek Prime to us?" the white Dalek asked once more. "Daleks help you invade this castle you call Hogwarts, we get to exterminate the Doctor, and you get the Emperor back for us?"

"That is the deal," Lord Voldemort hissed and smirked, pleased that he had won such powerful beings to his side.

"Very well," the white Dalek agreed. "Let us plan our invasion."

…

The Healer didn't know what the Dark Lord could offer, but it was a very possible idea that he could come up with something sufficiently tempting to make an alliance possible. If the Daleks allied themselves with Voldemort, they could invade Hogwarts with ease, causing the deaths of too many students – children. The Healer couldn't allow that to happen.

"Harry, if the Daleks  _do_  ally with Voldemort and attack Hogwarts, the students will have to protect themselves," the Healer told him urgently. "With your magic, it would be possible for you and the other students to stop the Daleks."

"What could we do?" Harry asked. "From what you've told me about the Daleks, they have metal armor, guns, and few weaknesses. We'd never be able to destroy them."

"Maybe you couldn't destroy them, but you  _would_  be able to stop them from attacking and killing anyone," the Healer replied with a smile, and Harry hesitantly smiled back.

…

Harry Potter understood what the Healer wanted him to do, but now he had to do it. Grasping his gold Galleon in his hand, Harry prodded it with his wand to change the time and date to twenty minutes from that moment. He could only hope that the DA was still carrying the coins around despite being discovered the night before.

Once that was done, Harry began heading towards the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor of the castle, the Healer following him under Harry's Invisibility Cloak that had once belonged to his father. The Healer wouldn't interfere to show himself to the DA until only Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left. They had planned what Harry was going to say and what the DA would do.

"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asked him the moment that he reached the Room of Requirement. "Why did you call a meeting after last night?"

"You'll find out when the others are here," Harry told her and Ron as he opened the Room and headed inside to wait.

He knew that his words would not sit well with his best friends, but there wasn't enough time to explain. They would have to find out with the others what was going on, and he'd fill them in on the rest of the story after the meeting. It was the best he could do with so little time. Who knew how soon the Daleks would get past the wards and enter the castle?

…

Lord Voldemort had made sure the Daleks, his new allies, understood that Harry Potter would be his to kill. Everyone else in castle aside from Severus Snape was theirs for the taking, though the students with green ties and crests would be better left alone as they would most likely join Voldemort's side. However, the Dark Lord would allow them to choose. As long as Snape lived and Voldemort got to kill Potter, he did not care what the aliens did.

Waving his wand, Lord Voldemort began the process of creating a hole in the wards for the metal aliens to use to enter Hogwarts.

…

The Healer stood in the corner of the room, among the shadows, under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, watching as the teenage boy looked around at his friends. Finally, Harry began to speak.

"I know this may be hard to believe," Harry began slowly, "but I've just been informed that there is a good chance that Hogwarts will be attacked within the next few hours." The students burst out at his words, leaving Harry unable to speak until he raised his hands and stilled the chattered questions.

"No, it will most likely  _not_  be Voldemort or the Death Eaters, but those who will attack are most likely  _allied_  with them," Harry reported. "They will be machines controlled by the Death Eaters. Their metal bodies bear powerful weapons that can kill a person with one shot, just as the Killing Curse does."

The Healer could see that many of the students wanted more information about the so-called machines that would attack, but he and Harry had agreed that the less the students understood about the Daleks, the better, so Harry continued before the others could ask any more questions.

"Fortunately, unlike Death Eaters, these machines will not be able to protect themselves from spells. If we transfigure their weapons and the big eye on each machine that looks like a telescope into harmless objects, or if we prank the machines, they'll be unable to kill anything."

"What do you want us to do?" a girl with yellow robes, labeling her a Hufflepuff, called out on the group's behalf.

"Susan, I want you lot to be out and around the castle, especially at the Entrance Hall and on the grounds, watching for the machines," Harry told her; he held up his fake Galleon. "The one who told me what was coming changed the Galleons so that, if you hold them tightly for five seconds, all of them will heat up and say the name of the one who activated them. When you see the machines, signal the rest of us, and we'll come find you."

The Healer, proud of what he had accomplished with his sonic screwdriver, allowed himself to smile. Around the room, the students were muttering, but they also appeared to be willing to fight; all these months preparing for a fight had done their work.

Soon after that, all the students had left but Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a blond girl whom the Healer recognized as Luna Lovegood. Despite his being invisible, Luna was looking curiously, right at him.

"Harry, there are a lot of Wrackspurts in that corner," she reported. "Did you know that?"

"Yes, I did, Luna, but thanks," Harry replied with a small smile. Luna nodded and skipped over to where the Healer stood. Reaching out and finding the cloak, she pulled it off him.

"This cloak is the source of the Wrackspurts, not you, Healer," Luna declared, and the Healer couldn't help smiling.

"That's very good to hear, very good," the Healer told her. "I wouldn't want the Wrackspurts in my mind, confusing me."

"No, you wouldn't, but you do still have a few about you," Luna answered with a serious nod, pulling her wand from behind her ear and waving it in his direction. The Healer's clothes transformed into robes. "There, all gone, now."

"Thank you," the Healer responded gratefully even as she took a stick out of her pocket and transfigured it to look like a wand, handing it over to him easily.

Luna turned back to her friends. "Well, I'd best be off to stop the aliens from invading." Luna's eyes closed for a moment before she turned to face the wall that faced where he had crash-landed. "Your wife, she's hurt…" Luna whispered. "But she's also healing, and she says she'll be fine by the time this is all done. She also wouldn't mind having some younger people than normal join you for once."

"I'll keep that in mind," the Healer promised. Though Luna's words were so cryptic as to seem encoded, he understood what the young Ravenclaw meant easily enough.

"Oh, Hogwarts doesn't like the darkness hurting her," Luna gasped, her eyes still closed and her face looking pained. "Soon the darkness will be too much, and she will be unable to stop it from coming. We don't have much time, Healer. Please, save her!"

"Don't worry, Luna," the Healer whispered softly. "Tell Hogwarts I'll help the students protect her. She will not be allowed to get hurt."

Luna's painful expression lessened, and her eyes opened. "She thanks you and she knows you'll protect her just as you protect the universe, Healer. I must leave, now, however. She is calling for me."

"I'll see you again, Luna Lovegood," the Healer promised, and she nodded and skipped out of the room, her wand behind her ear again.

"What was that about?" Harry asked, and the Healer turned to see Harry and his two closest friends staring at him.

"Voldemort and the Daleks are going to be here soon," the Healer told him. "Luna speaks in riddles, but she's very observant. When she mentioned my wife, she meant the TARDIS."

"What did she mean about the Wrackspurts?" Harry questioned, glancing down at his cloak on the ground by the Healer's feet.

"I didn't look like a wizard, so she made me look like one," the Healer reminded him, bending down to pick up the cloak, running his hands through it. "As for your cloak, what she meant was that I shouldn't hide from now on. I'll need to be seen." The Healer offered Harry his cloak, and the Gryffindor slipped it into a pocket.

"Harry, who is this?" Hermione finally asked, finding her voice again.

"Ron, Hermione, meet the Healer," Harry introduced. "He's the one who told me about the invasion of Hogwarts. The ones attacking us are really aliens in metal armor with guns. They're after the Healer, and we realized they might ally with Voldemort to get to him. He can't leave here just yet, so he's going to help us instead. By the way, sir, what do you think of the robes?"

The Healer looked down at himself for a moment before looking back up at the three students before him, a small smile growing on his face. "Robes are cool." At least this time River wasn't around to pull off his robes and shoot them, with or without Amy's help. She always ruined his favorite hats…

Ron snorted, but still appeared to be in shock, while Harry and Hermione just shook their heads.

"So, you're an alien?" Hermione asked, and the Healer nodded. "There are really aliens out there?"

"Oh, millions and billions and trillions of them," the Healer began excitedly. "There are hundreds and thousands of planets out there, most so very different from the others. Of course you always get those that seem similar, but then there are those that are so very unexpected and different. I've been to beach planets that are made up of only beaches and others that are completely covered in snow all the time and even one that's just covered in volcanoes and lava."

Hermione and Harry appeared to be fascinated, and even Ron, who knew the least about this, being raised a wizard, was looking at him curiously. However, the Healer realized that, for now, they had a castle to protect.

"We'll save the stories for later," the Healer reminded them. "Right now, we have other things to do."

"Right," Harry said, shaking his head to clear it of his thoughts so he could concentrate. It was something, the Healer had noted, that humans did quite often. "Ron, Hermione, we'll use the Marauder's Map to check the grounds and see where our friends are. When we know where the Daleks are, the Healer will come with us to confront them and, we hope, scare them away. Even if we can't destroy them, just getting rid of them will be a victory."

Ron and Hermione nodded in understanding. Harry pulled out a sheet of parchment and tapped it with his wand, muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The Healer then watched excitedly as he finally saw the infamous map from the books, a prankster's gift from God or Merlin or whoever they believed in.

For another fifteen minutes, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, just as Ron was about to speak, the three fake Galleons in the room heated up. "Neville," they all said together, looking at the coins in their hands. After that, a quick search of the Map brought them to the grounds not far from Hagrid's hut and the TARDIS.

As they tore through the corridors, expertly using secret passages to bypass the new Headmistress and her helpers, Harry led the way until they reached the grounds. There, they found most of the DA waiting for them. The sight of the Healer surprised the students, but as the "Golden Trio" seemed to trust him, they limited themselves to shrugs and confused looks before following Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

When they reached Neville, he was ducking an attack from the Daleks. One had fired its weapon, the blast shot from it hitting the ground and making it explode in a shower of dirt and grass. Before the red Dalek could attack again, Fred and George Weasley threw fireworks at it, hitting it right on the eyestalk. The fireworks exploded, creating a distraction that allowed Neville to rejoin the others, though it also made the Daleks aware of the group.

"You are the Doctor," the white Dalek announced, its eyestalk on the Healer.

"And you are Harry Potter," the blue Dalek reported, looking at Harry. "Lord Voldemort wishes for you to live, but everyone else will be  _exterminated_."

"I don't think so," the Healer told them, stepping back to allow the students easy aim at the Daleks.

"You will allow children to die for you?" the orange Dalek questioned, and the Healer just smiled.

"No, but I'll let them fight for me," he replied, giving Harry a nod. "By the way, it's 'the Healer' right now. Get it right."

" _Now!_ " Harry yelled, and the DA shot a large rainbow of spells at the five Daleks, all of them hitting their targets.

Some of the spells were absorbed by a shield that Voldemort must have placed on the Daleks, but it wasn't strong enough to withstand the barrage of spellfire and fell quickly. From there, the Daleks were transformed in many ways.

One Dalek's eyestalk was now a cute, white rabbit that Ginny Weasley summoned and hugged with one arm while launching spells with the other. The Healer had a feeling that she had just acquired a new pet. Another Dalek's gun now could only shoot chocolate. Two other guns had turned into beautiful flowers, one a rose and the other a lily. The fourth gun had turned into cheese, and the last seemed to be enjoying its change into a water gun.

With the guns taken care of, many of the DA were levitating the Daleks and changing their colors and transfiguring their eyestalks into different things even as the Daleks yelled, " _Stop this! STOP THIS! Youmust be exterminated! STOP THIS!"_

The Healer couldn't help but laugh at the sight of students enjoying their fun. For the Daleks, this explosion of creativity, fun, craziness, and magic was so unusual, so different, and so alien to what they had always been that they couldn't fight it. The bizarre changes that they were experiencing were driving them insane, because they couldn't understand what was happening and their lack of emotions left them unable to cope with the students' laughter.

" ** _STOP THIS!_** "

"They're enjoying themselves," Harry commented with a grin as he fired a spell that acted like a paintball gun, coating one of the Daleks in bright pink paint.

"As are you," the Healer replied. Harry froze for a moment in surprise, but the Healer just waited.

"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Harry asked himself, a slow smile spreading over his face. "I haven't felt like this since before the Tournament… Being this carefree, I didn't even realize how much I missed it."

"Then don't let it go," Hermione told him, walking over to the pair, Ron behind her. "We haven't seen you like this in so long, and we don't want to see it leave." Ron shook his head to agree with Hermione, and Harry smiled at his friends.

"I'll try not to, but with Umbridge and Voldemort and all that's going on…" Harry shook his head sadly.

"What if you could leave it all?" the Healer asked, and all three looked at him curiously. "What if you could escape for a long while and come back the next day, older than you were, more prepared for the war that's coming?"

"Can that happen?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"My TARDIS is more than just a spaceship," the Healer said with a proud smile. "She's also a time machine. Any time in the world, past and future; anywhere in the world; any planet; anywhere in the universe – I can show it all to you."

"And we can be back tomorrow, older but otherwise as if we had never left?" Harry asked, trying to clarify the Healer's offer. The Healer nodded with a smile.

"Your friend Luna told you that the TARDIS wants younger people," he told them. "What she meant was that the TARDIS wants me to invite you three to come along. So, do you want to come and see some other planets, other worlds?"

Harry looked at his two friends, then around at the others there, still enjoying their fun. He glanced up at the castle and at the Daleks before sharing long looks with his friends. Ron was nodding and Hermione had a small smile on her face. It seemed they all understood this silent conversation, and the Healer could guess what they were discussing without words. He deduced that Harry didn't want to leave his friends or the castle behind, but he also knew that he needed to get away from the pressure of being the Boy-Who-Lived and from Voldemort, and accepting the Healer's offer would let him do it.

"You'll bring us back whenever we want to come home?" Harry finally asked, turning back to the Healer.

"Whenever you want it," he agreed. "I'm not kidnapping you or keeping you prisoner. You'll be my guests, my companions, and I won't keep you where you don't want to be."

"I guess we have some packing to do," Harry told his friends with a smile, and they both grinned. "First, though, we should get rid of the Dalek. Oi! You lot! We have to get rid of the machines, so take them over to the wards and Banish them from here."

"Got it, Harry!" "We'll do that!" and many other replies were heard as the Daleks were levitated towards the wards, the Weasley twins with mischievous smirks on their faces, obviously planning something diabolically clever.

"We should go pack while they're busy," Hermione declared, and both boys agreed quickly, turning to return to the castle.

"I'll stay here to be sure that the Daleks are gone," the Healer said – and then a girl's voice called out, "Harry!" from the direction of the other students. The Healer turned to see a redhead walking quickly over to them, looking at Harry with an odd expression. That determined look in her brown eyes reminded the Healer of Amy Pond, and the red hair only added to the similarities. Why did it seem that all redheads had that sort of personality?

"You both go ahead," Harry quietly told Ron and Hermione. "I'll see what Ginny wants."

Realizing who the redhead was, the Healer walked a bit away to give them some privacy, though of course he stayed close enough to listen, while he watched the other students disposing of the Daleks. The twins appeared to be pushing something into the Daleks' armor through the holes left from the missing eyestalks. If the Healer used the colorful wrappers on the ground by their feet as an explanation, he figured he was seeing those Ton-Tongue Toffees at work.

"Yes, Ginny?" Harry asked as the Healer heard her walk up to the young wizard and stop, standing in his path.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Ginny asked quietly, sounding resigned, and the Healer had to hide his surprise at her perceptiveness. "You, Hermione, and Ron, you're leaving with that man, getting away from all of this."

"How'd you know?" Harry gasped out, obviously shocked.

"I could just tell," Ginny replied, and the Healer thought he could hear her shaking her head. "Harry, you'll come back, right?"

"Of course I will, Ginny," Harry said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you might find that it's easier to be away from all this, away from Voldemort and the war and the stress and being the Boy-Who-Lived," Ginny said sadly. "Our world puts so much pressure on you, and you might find it's easier to just run away and stay away rather than come back." They fell silent, as Harry took this all in.

"That man, the Healer, he's going to give me a few months to get away, to learn to be myself again, to learn how to have fun again," Harry finally sighed. "Maybe we'll even find places where I can learn how to protect myself and my friends better. When I get back, I might know how to use more spells and how to fight better. No matter what, though, I'm going to come back," Harry vowed, "and I'm going to come back tomorrow, even if I'm a year or two older. To Ron, Hermione, and me, it'll seem as if ages have passed, but to you, to the others, it'll seem like hours."

"He – he can do that?" Ginny stammered, and Harry said, "Yes, he can." Ginny breathed in a large breath and let it out slowly, obviously thinking things over. "If I see you again tomorrow, then, I guess I really don't have to worry for long, eh?." Ginny sounded a bit sad to the Healer as she spoke, sighing a little at the end, but she was trying to hide it and doing it pretty well behind a bit of humor, he felt.

"I suppose not," Harry admitted, and the Healer heard his robes rustle, most likely due to a shrug.

"I guess this is a bit silly from my end, since you'll only be gone for a few hours," Ginny began slowly after a pause, "but I want to say goodbye, and I hope you have fun. I'll see you tomorrow."

The Healer heard Ginny kiss Harry on the cheek before she began walking in the direction of the lake. He thought he heard a soft sniffle from her direction, but it might have just been the wind, it was so quiet. Harry stood frozen for a full minute before he turned to return to the castle and pack; as he walked, the Healer could hear him muttering almost silently to himself.

"The Wrackspurts seem to like Harry," the voice of Luna commented from beside him, and the Healer turned to look at her before nodding.

"Yes, they do appear to be attracted to him, don't they?" he observed. "I hope they leave him soon."

"Your wife will help him," Luna told him, her voice almost singing the words. The Healer glanced at her and saw that she was smiling with her eyes closed. She continued, "She feels his pain and sadness, and she wants to heal him. She wants  _you_  to heal him. Together, you'll rid him of the Wrackspurts, and he'll be ready."

"I'll certainly try my best," the Healer promised her sadly, understanding how much darkness filled Harry. The Healer was a man who had seen too much darkness, too much death. Now maybe, just maybe, he could use his experience to help heal Harry Potter.

"And getting rid of Harry's Wrackspurts will rid you of your own," Luna declared, her dreamy, blue eyes staring into his. The Healer thought to himself,  _I only hope that she's right_.

"You're one of a kind, Luna Lovegood," the Healer said with a sigh. "When I bring your friends back, I will find you so that we may speak one final time before I say good-bye."

"I'd like that, Healer," Luna sighed happily. "Now, go, find Harry and the others. Help all three of them. I'll see you again in a long time and in no time at all."

Smiling gently, the Healer turned away from the students, who, having deposited the Daleks outside the castle wards, were just heading back. He started walking, to return to the TARDIS.

…

"You  _what_?" Voldemort bellowed, as he took in the bewildering, infuriating sight of the five transfigured Daleks, weird tentacle things slowly pushing their metal armor apart.

"We were attacked," the orange Dalek declared in an emotionless voice.

"My followers report that Dumbledore has been removed from Hogwarts, so he was not the attacker," Voldemort mused. "It was the professors then, correct? Blasted teachers!"

"The ones to attack us were the young, the children," the blue Dalek said, and Voldemort felt horror and rage rise within him.

"You allowed  _children_  to do this to you? Mere  _students_  still in school?" Voldemort saw no need to hide the disgust he was feeling. "Why did I think you would succeed where I failed? No, it appears even those from other worlds are below us wizards – inferior, inadequate. I have no reason to help you now, as you failed to keep your end of the bargain. Terrible, just terrible…" He started talking to himself: "I cannot  _believe_  that I actually thought they would succeed." Voldemort shook his head, disgusted with his having jumped to conclusions about the Daleks' powers. For now, he concluded, it was time to return to his hiding place.

Once Voldemort had vanished, the Daleks were left by themselves. Despite feeling a natural temptation to exterminate Lord Voldemort, they knew that they had to teleport away to seek restoration to their original forms and powers. Whatever those redheaded, identical, magical children had given them, it was making their bodies, mostly their tentacles, grow so much that the Daleks knew their armor was going to explode outwards. They needed to fix this – quickly.

…

Harry pocketed his trunk, which held all his belongings, and which Hermione had thoughtfully shrunk for him. Who knew what he might need while he was away?

He then led Ron and Hermione back through the corridors of Hogwarts, headed to the entrance. As they walked in silence, Harry was thinking deeply about his choice to leave his home, Hogwarts, and the friends he had there. Yes, Ron and Hermione were coming with him, and, yes, they would return to a time only moments after they had left, but this would be a huge change for all of them.

Despite his hesitation, however, Harry knew that he had made the right choice. He would not need to worry about Voldemort and the Death Eaters, nor about Umbridge or Snape or Malfoy; he would not have to face being called a liar and being pointed and whispered at in the corridors as he walked around the school… Harry knew that he needed this break, this chance to be himself without the Wizarding world following his every move, and Ron and Hermione agreed completely, so much so that they were willing to join him for the journey, however long they were gone in experienced time.

What the Healer was offering was freedom, and that was the one thing besides family that Harry wanted most of all.

As Harry, Hermione, and Ron reached the Entrance Hall, Harry was pulled from his musings by the entrance of the DA. They were all smiling, a few even laughing still, and they were all chatting happily. When they saw the trio, everyone made sure to say a few words about how thoroughly they had defeated the Daleks and how much they had enjoyed the battle. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, even went so far as to slap Harry on the back. "It's fantastic that you finally allowed us to join you on one of your adventures!" they said in chorus. Harry could only laugh, shaking his head.

Eventually, the three friends reached the grounds. Harry led Ron and Hermione to the blue box that had crashed by Hagrid's hut. Standing there, leaning against the side of the TARDIS, was the Healer, who had a silly grin on his face.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione," the Healer greeted, his smile not losing a touch of its size, perhaps even growing slightly. "This is the TARDIS, and she will be our ride for the next few months."

With those words, the Healer snapped his fingers, and the TARDIS's two doors opened inward. The Healer waved his arm, gesturing for Harry and his friends to enter, so they stepped in, each pausing a few steps inside to take in the sight of the TARDIS's interior.

After being in the Wizarding World for so long, they all were used to the idea that something could be larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Even so, the sight of the TARDIS took their breath away. They drank in all of the technology and the coloring and the metal and the glass floors and the peaceful sounds the console made… It was wonderful. Harry could see himself staying in here for a long while, just enjoying the sounds and feels of this room.

Taking a few steps brought him to the console, and Harry lightly rested his hand on it, feeling its vibrations. They changed beneath his palm, becoming more calming, more relaxing, and Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the Healer told him that the TARDIS was alive. Maybe that was why the TARDIS was a she, and maybe that was why Luna had called her the Healer's wife. From the fondness in the man's voice as he spoke of this blue box, Harry could tell they had been through quite a bit together, and that would be their future for as long as they lived.

"Go up those stairs and down the hallway," the Healer told the trio; startled, Harry removed his hand from the console. "If you look at the doors, I suspect that the TARDIS has already created and labeled your bedrooms. After that, we'll find you lot something to eat, and then we'll figure out which planet to go to first. Go on, now. Off you go!"

Shaking their heads with small smiles on his face, Harry, Hermione, and Ron followed the Healer's orders. Harry trailed his hand along the vehicle's wall so that he could continue that contact he'd had earlier.

He knew that the three of them would love their stay on the TARDIS, relaxing as they never had been able to relax before. It was an amazing feeling, and Harry couldn't wait to see what the Healer had planned for them.

…

The Healer watched his three new passengers making their way to their rooms. Though they were young, he mused, they all had had enough experience to propel them into adulthood. Unlike his usual companions, they seemed unsurprised that the TARDIS was larger on the inside than on the outside. Most likely, they were used to such things. But he could tell that, even so, there were things about the TARDIS that awed and fascinated Ron and Hermione. Ron was awed by the TARDIS's technology, because he had been raised Magical. Hermione, who understood what much of the technology was, nonetheless had been amazed by its complexity. Then there was Harry.

_Oh, Harry Potter, that wonderful boy_ , the Healer reflected. He had recognized that Sexy was alive within moments of stepping inside her, and the Healer recognized the relaxation that seeped through Harry's body when he touched the TARDIS. Her life source allowed her to show emotions by vibrating, and it appeared Sexy had hoped to help Harry in the same way that she helped the Healer. Apparently her efforts were already doing him good.

The Healer had a feeling that things would be quite different from what he was used to in having companions. These were Magical teenagers who were adults before their time. Their presence certainly would make things interesting but fun.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

_Geronimo_!


End file.
